Puerto Rican espiritismo botánico and New Age religious commerce

Record summary

Puerto Rican espiritismo combines séances, mediumship, Kardecist vocabulary, Catholic practice, Indigenous and Afro-Caribbean elements, herbalism, and the commercial setting of botánicas. Contemporary scholarship and documentary work examine how practitioners negotiate spirits, ancestors, illness, migration, and changing media environments. The tradition offers a useful comparison with Cuban Espiritismo, Santería, and Latin American curanderismo while resisting a simple occult-versus-religion classification. Researchers should identify the lineage and setting of each group, since household mediums, centers, botanicas, and New Age businesses can use overlapping but nonidentical vocabularies.